Adam Wainwright and Cardinals rotation think they’ve turned a corner

11:33 PM ET

WASHINGTON — Adam Wainwright has felt this coming for weeks. After a series of small adjustments when he was in the worst rut of his major-league career one month ago, he got an incremental victory that has led to a series of important victories for his St. Louis Cardinals.

“I tried to tell you guys, man. I’m not just talking to talk,” Wainwright said. “My stuff has felt very good. The fastball is back. I’ve just got to hone it a hair.”

It’s not as if he is throwing 95 or 96 mph as he did when he was 25 years old, but he is throwing 91, 92 and, on one pitch Saturday night, 94 mph. Pair that newfound oomph with his curveball and two other fastballs that he can move in different directions and you’ve got a pitcher who can, once again, lead a rotation back to its lofty place in the hierarchy of the National League. At least that’s the plan.

The Cardinals might have their best offense in a generation this season, but they’re not going anywhere if Wainwright and the rotation don’t execute a dramatic U-turn from their early-season struggles. They think, or maybe they simply hope, that they’re just beginning to hit the first bend in that U.

“The fastball is back,” Adam Wainwright said. “I’ve just got to hone it a hair.” Rob Carr/Getty Images

Wainwright was better than the line score might suggest in Saturday’s 9-4 win over the Washington Nationals, but even if he wasn’t, the results speak for themselves. The Cardinals have won his last seven starts. The Nationals hit two solo home runs and one home run that probably should have been a solo home run off Wainwright. Other than that, he showed machine-like efficiency. He needed no more than 15 pitches to get through any of his seven innings.

After a chaotic …

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